Access Blog

Five Things in Five Minutes

Friday 9 November, 2018

That old game of naming five famous people you'd like to have dinner with came true for us this week when we helped bring Sydney's Festival of Dangerous Ideas to life. There were actually more than 30 people we would have liked to invite to dinner, but we've narrowed it down for this week's special edition of Five Things in Five Minutes. Enjoy!

1. Stephen FryActing, comedy, writing, presenting, activism – it would be easier to list what Stephen Fry hasn’t done. With his powerful social media presence and observations on the great political divide of our times, we'd like to sit down with Fry and chat liberalism, Blackadder and what it really means to have a conversation on politics.

2. Rukmini CallimachiNew York Times Foreign Correspondent Rukmini Callimachi risked her own life countless times to interview active members of ISIS. Recorded in the chart-topping podcast Caliphate, Callimachi sheds light on daily life within Islamic State.

3. Megan Phelps-RoperBorn into the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), Megan was raised picketing veteran funerals and LGBT parades. A Twitter conversation with a Jewish man was a catalyst in her leaving WBC and saw her encourage interfaith conversations in the social media age.

4. Ayelet WaldmanThe last thing you’d expect from a former lawyer and law professor is praise on the benefits of LSD. Yet Ayelet Waldman credits taking microdoses of the drug with improving her mood, mental health and life – and is now pushing for better research.

5. Toby WalshHe’s the Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW and the 'rock star' of AI. But Walsh has predicted 2062 will be the year that AI will finally match human intelligence and insists limits need to be placed on AI to ensure the good of the public.